“You found the river? I was just coming back to inform you of its location” Suna seriously did not jump as she heard the voice from behind. She had not been taken off guard and if anyone tried to tell you otherwise, then they would be lying.

“Yeah. We could not wait around any longer for you to return. Maria should be resurfacing any second now” Suna did her best not to look at Nao. She felt her face flame every time she looked at the female.

Suna knew she had a crush on Maria, but she had no idea how she felt about Nao. Did she like her? Was it something more? Something deeper? The answer terrified Suna.

“That’s good. So, you recognized what is wrong around us, right? Can you share what you know?” Nao asked as worry shined in her eyes. Nao’s gaze was fixed at the river in front of her where Maria lay in waiting.

Suna bit her lip as she tried to recall everything she knew about this situation. She was sure she had heard about something like this from an adventurer a long time ago and it had felt like a fairytale then.

Suna was about to tell Nao the story she had heard from a passerby when something broke the surface of the water. A pair of webbed hands grabbed onto Suna’s leg and she felt her balance get disturbed.

“Lookout” Nao called out as she started charging her magic. It shined brightly and the light of the spell reflected itself onto the water. The thing grabbing Suna quickly let her go and ducked back into the water.

It all happened within the frame of a few seconds and left Suna with a dazed mind. However, Suna knew she needed to clear this misunderstanding before Nao made a move she would regret.

“Nao, no wait. It’s Maria. Don’t hit the oracle” Suna positioned herself between Nao and Maria to deflect the weapon Nao had been wielding. The shock of the discovery also made Nao lose her grip on her weapon and it was easily dragged out of her hand.

Maria also floated up toward the surface of the river and now supported a pair of webbed hands and scales on her face. Her bunny ears were still on her head and looked weird with the whole new look she supported.

“I can breathe underwater. What the heck happened?” Maria asked with an excited voice. She seemed pretty happy with the outcome and Suna could not help but feel bad for her.

It was not Maria’s fault that she was half-human and had ended up in such an awkward situation. In fact, she was extremely lucky to have ended up in the best-case scenario for herself.

“It’s a transferable curse but it only affects humans. I heard about it from one of the passing-by travelers. They told me that there was a forest that curses humans that stepped foot in it but there was a huge reward if they managed to clear it up. The curse takes the form of a smell you particularly like and if you smell it, you will change and gain unimaginable powers in exchange for the curse. I just never thought it changed them in this way” Suna explained. The traveler had told her this along with several other humans.

Now that she thought about it, there had been something fishy about that traveler and his way of speaking. It had seemed like he had been dragging his words out of his throat and it had seemed parched as well.

“Curse or not, we cannot stay here. Maria, come out here this instant” Nao called and Maria tried to comply. She tried to drag her body up but it seemed to be unsuccessful.

“I can’t. I can’t pull my tail up the river since it’s heavy” Marai complained and Suna felt her mouth open with surprise. Her what felt heavy?

“Your tail?” Nao asked, repeating those words to confirm them. Suna tried to word them as well but they felt heavy in her mouth.

Maria dived back into the water and resurfaced a small distance away. And then she pulled up a bluish-pink tail up from the water and opened her hands in a ‘here it is’ fashion.

“Look and behold, I now have a fishtail. I guess that makes me a mermaid” Maria called back with a cheerful voice. At least someone’s spirit was up even with this terrible news on the way.

Suna could not help but feel her face pale at the news. Maria might not have realized what kind of danger she was in but both Suna and Nao seemed to have a terrified look on their face.

Suna could even see Nao gulp her fear down as she took in a deep breath.

“Maria, I don’t think you realize how grave your situation is. You are a Siren, not a mermaid since you have fins on your ears. And Sirens die when they are away from water for more than a few days. We can’t make the journey ahead with you as this” Nao reminded but Maria seemed unaffected by the urgency.

In fact, she seemed relaxed and carefree as she swam around in circles around her original position. Suna could feel the magic swirl around Maria and it was actively interacting with her.

“It’s the magic. It won’t allow her to listen to us about this topic. We need to find the source of this curse before we can free her” Suna explained as she observed more and more of Maria’s behavior.

None of it seemed like it was done consciously. The curse also behaved in weird ways and had never been observed by Suna. She could only make guesses about what she had seen or felt when she looked at Maria.

“We can try but where do we even start? The only one of us who has a sixth sense for these kinds of situations is cursed” Nao pointed out and Suna felt herself being stumped at the reminder.

She had forgotten that. But they had to try it out anyway since they owned it to Maria. And maybe, just maybe, they could get Maria to co-operate as well.

“Maria, can you sense the source magic of your curse? Or any kind of tugging feeling?” Suna asked, being careful of her words. She had no idea how Maria was feeling, nor how she would react.

Maria swam another lap, likely pretending not to notice them but then Suna felt something in the magic around them change. She looked up as the bright moon rose about the canopy and suddenly, the magic around them quitened and Maria groaned out in pain.